While long albums are not U2 singer Bono‘s thing, the band's next one may feature some pretty “great” songs.

Speaking to Apple Music, Bono pushed back against U2 guitarist The Edge's claim that they had “300 songs” in the works. The “With or Without You” singer revealed they are really working on about 25.

“Edge said, ‘300 songs.' I said, ‘They're not songs, Edge. They're just guitar parts'” Bono recalled. “He said, ‘We have 25 great songs.'”

Bono agreed with Edge's claim that they have “25 great songs” that they are working on. Even then, they will have to “whittle it down to 15.”

The singer is not a fan of “long albums,” so don't expect a double album the next time U2 drops a project. “It should be 10 songs, but I don't have a timeline on that, and they don't either,” he explained.

Luckily, it sounds like U2 is hard at work in the studio. “I've been in the studio, I've heard these men, they are remarkable musicians, and Larry [Mullen Jr.] has been staying late working on his parts,” said Bono.

When is U2's next album coming out?

Bono, who recently talked about the band's next album, singing during U2's 2017 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival performance.
Shelley Mays-Imagn Images.
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Little is known about the upcoming album by U2. It will be the first album of original material since the band's Songs of Experience album, which came out in December 2017.

In 2023, U2 released Songs of Surrender, a collection of 40 re-recorded tracks from their previous albums. It tied in with Bono's memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, which came out in November 2022.

Over the last decade, U2 has been spending a lot of time looking back. Songs of Innocence largely focused on the band and Bono's childhood in Dublin, Ireland. Then, in 2017, they embarked on the Joshua Tree Tour, a retrospective of their iconic 1987 album. Six years later, they played a 40-show residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, focused on their Achtung Baby album.

Bono is also coming off the release of his Stories of Surrender film. It chronicled his Stories of Surrender Tour shows as he read excerpts from his book and performed new arrangements of U2 songs.

Bono: Stories of Surrender premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May. It was then released on Apple TV+ on May 30, 2025.

Now, the band appears focused on the future. Their 16th studio album will likely come out over the next couple of years, and it sounds like Bono is impressed with their progress.